Subject: I need Information of PINE for OPEN VMS

From: "Samuel Perez V." <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 16 Jan 1997 22:55:18 -0600

I would like to have information about PINE for open VMS to MVAX3100
server and the free software adresses about it.

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From: Deirdre Healy Staples <[email-masked]>
Date: Fri, 17 Jan 1997 12:22:43 -0500 (EST)

I'm downloading a list of about 600 email addresses, editing the file so 
that it's readable by Pine: NicknameTABFullnameTAB(email,email)

When I download only 20 names - it works fine in Pine.  As soon as I do 
the entire list of 600 - Pine will read the nickname and fullname - but 
as soon as I go to select the addresses, I get the error message "line 
too long."  

This leads me to believe that there is a limited amount of email 
addresses allowed for a distribution list in Pine?  If this is true - 
does anyone know the magic number?  If not - any other ideas?

We're using Pine version 3.93 on DEC Unix.

Thanks in advance!

-Deirdre

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From: Mike Brudenell <[email-masked]>
Date: Mon, 20 Jan 1997 09:27:28 +0000 (GMT)

If memory serves there _is_ a maximum number of e-mail addresses in a
distribution list, but its somewhere around 1000 or 10,000 (or something). 

I suspect you arenot hitting this limit, but instead suffering from
exactly the error reported to you:

	"Line too long"

I think you've implicitly assumed that the comma separated list of e-mail
addresses for the distribution list has to be all on one line?

This is not true.  Instead just split the line after one of the commas and
continue the list on the next line in the file, indented a few spaces.

This can be easily ascertained by using Pine to setup a list of a few
addresses (say 5-10 longish ones) and then looking at the format of the
file produced by Pine.

Aside: if one bypasses the tools to maintain the list (ie, Pine) then one
should expect to do a bit of investigative work to ascertain the format of
the file, including in exceptional/unusual situations.  ;-)

Cheers,

-- 
Mike Brudenell                                         <[email-masked]>
------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Computing Service, University of York, Heslington, York, YO1 5DD, UK
Tel: +44-1904-433811  FAX: +44-1904-433740  http://www.york.ac.uk/~pmb1/

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From: "Bryan H." <[email-masked]>
Date: 20 Jan 1997 21:41:00 GMT

>distribution list, but its somewhere around 1000 or 10,000 (or something). 

Sure enough, I am having trouble at about the 1100 mark.  I can't find
this topic covered in Pine's help screen (although I'm sure it's been
talked about in this group before.)  Anyone know where to read up on this
at?

Bryan

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From: Mike Brudenell <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue, 21 Jan 1997 09:41:32 +0000 (GMT)

Well, the source code is usually a good place to start searching for these
things.  A quick

    cd pine
    grep -i '#def.*addr' *.h

revealed that the os.h file (a symbolic link to osdep/os-XXX.h where XXX
is your platform code) contains:

    #define MAX_FULLNAME     (100)
    #define MAX_NICKNAME      (40)
    #define MAX_ADDRESS      (200)
    #define MAX_NEW_LIST     (500)  /* Max addrs to be added when creating list */
    #define MAX_SEARCH       (100)  /* Longest string to search for */
    #define MAX_ADDR_EXPN   (1000)  /* Longest expanded addr */
    #define MAX_ADDR_FIELD (10000)  /* Longest fully-expanded addr field */

Now the problem is to decide which does what :-)

Cheers,

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From: SandraB <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue, 21 Jan 1997 10:25:27 -0500

I made a couple of typos while updating our numerous global addressbooks.

The typos caused the error message: 
"Mail not sent. Sending error 554. One or more recipients failed."

My question is, does pine have a "verbose mode" that will say EXACTLY which
username(s) it didn't like? 

Mike, still have that source code in front of you?? :-)

Thanks!

*************************************************************************
Sandra Brust						[email-masked]
Happy Harry's, Inc.	(302) 366-0335   ext. 224
*************************************************************************

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From: Edward M Greshko <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 22 Jan 1997 07:48:08 +0800 (GMT)

> Mike, still have that source code in front of you?? :-)

	Running pine3.95?  Yes, I believe you are...  Did you go to
setup/config from the main menu?  Did you search for the word "verbose"?
Maybe not, huh?  Otherwise you may have found:

	 [ ]  enable-verbose-smtp-posting    

        FEATURE: enable-verbose-smtp-posting
 
This feature controls an aspect of Pine's message sending.  When enabled,
Pine will send a VERB (i.e., VERBose) command early in the posting process
intended to cause the server SMTP to provide a more detailed account of
the transaction.  This feature is typically only useful to system
administrators and other support personel as an aid in troublshooting
problems.
 
Note, this feature relies on a specific capability of the system's mail
transport agent or configured "smtp-server".  It is possible that this
feature will cause problems for some tranport agents, and may result in
sending failure.  In addition, as the verbose output comes from the mail
transport agent, it is likely to vary from one system to another. 
 
	No source code necessary, void where prohibited....  :-) :-)

-- 
Edward M. Greshko                  Technical Manager, Electronic Commerce
                                   Control Data Asia/Pacific Region
Voice: +886-2-715-2222 x287        6/F, 131 Nanking East Road, Section 3
FAX  : +886-2-712-9197             Taipei, Taiwan R.O.C

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From: SandraB <[email-masked]>
Date: Fri, 24 Jan 1997 10:31:10 -0500

Ed, I thought you and the pine group might be interested in the results of
your suggestion.

FYI, we are using version 3.93 (under AIX) and I had "researched" ;-) the
option you speak of.

After your reply, I enabled this option.

I purposely put a typo in user's name, in a global addressbook's distribution
list.

I then tried to send e-mail, using the Lcc: option. I still got the same
*generic* error.  HOWEVER, if I picked the regular To: option, then I got the
verbose message about exactly which user was unknown.

I suppose this has to do with the way Lcc: handles packaging the users names
for sending?

Thanks for your reply Ed. It proved an interesting experiment. 

************************************************************************
Sandra Brust						[email-masked]
Happy Harry's, Inc.	(302) 366-0335   ext. 224
    People often find it easier to be result of the past 
				            than a cause of the future.